The college basketball season is rolling along quite nicely, with conference play giving us a slightly clearer picture of which teams will be around for the thrill of March Madness.

The key words are "slightly clearer" because, well, this week's NCAA Tournament bracket projection still has a fair amount of confusion, with Selection Sunday a handful of weeks away (it's March 11, btw). The bubble is a jumble, honestly, and there are plenty of teams with similar resumes in the 5-6-7-8 seed range.

We'll do our best to help you decide for yourself how those resumes stack up. As always, SN's Field of 68 isn't a projection of what the seed lines will look like on Selection Sunday, but it's a guess at how the bracket would look if the season ended Sunday. Our goal is to give you the information that will be used by the selection committee — a mix of statistics and other relevant facts for every single at-large team. As you know, even though numbers matter, numbers aren't the only thing: The committee looks at an entire body of work, a process that includes so very many factors.

Note: For now, automatic bids go to the team with the best conference record. In case of a tie, the bid is given to the team with the best Pomeroy rating. Note, Part 2: All RPI numbers are from CBSSports.com and Pomeroy numbers are, of course, from Kenpom.com.

Need to know: The "V" schools are pretty clearly the top two overall seeds right now. If you want to give Virginia the top overall spot after a really impressive win at Duke, I won't stop you. At the moment, I'll stick with Villanova, thanks to a couple more Top 100-type wins and a better non-conference schedule. Purdue's an easy third choice, and I flipped a coin to get Duke over Kansas for the final No. 1 spot (OK, not really, but it felt that close).

Need to know: The Jayhawks are 6-2 in Big 12 play, in first place yet again in arguably the best conference in the country. Those six wins, though, have all been by six points or fewer. What does that mean? Bill Self's team has had to scrap for everything, but the ability to make winning plays late is really impressive. Xavier's been as good as expected (maybe a bit better) and Auburn has shocked pretty much everyone; five of the Tigers' seven SEC wins have been by double digits, including road wins at Tennessee and Mizzou.

Need to know: Cincinnati has been very, very good, but the Bearcats don't have any wins against at-large teams in this week's Field of 68 (though UCLA and SMU are on the bubble), which is why they're "only" a No. 3 seed despite that shiny record. Mick Cronin's team has opportunities coming, though: The Bearcats still have two games against Wichita State and two against Houston. Go 3-1 in those games and avoid a hiccup and a top-two seed becomes possible. West Virginia and Oklahoma have stumbled lately; the Mountaineers, particularly, have wasted big leads in potential resume-building wins against Kansas and Kentucky. Arizona's won 15 of 16 since an early season stumble.

Need to know: Texas Tech probably has a seeding ceiling, thanks to seven non-conference home games against teams with an RPI of 200-plus (including three of 300-plus). The selection committee isn't big on that type of scheduling. The way to combat that is racking up impressive wins, and beating Kansas and West Virginia in Big 12 play is a good start, and that comeback road win at South Carolina on Saturday was solid, too. Ohio State was on a nice run before that head-scratching home loss to Penn State, but the Buckeyes have a couple get-well home-game opportunities (Illinios/Indiana) before a massive game at Purdue on Feb. 7. Kentucky and North Carolina are both flawed, but dangerous-in-March blue bloods.

Need to know: All five of Tennessee's losses are against teams in this week's Field of 68, and they have five wins against at-large teams this week, including a neutral-court kicker against Purdue that looks more impressive every week. Wichita State has dropped a couple games since our last projection. Clemson has a lot to prove now that senior star Donte Grantham (14.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists) is done for the season with a knee injury. In the Tigers' first game without him, they scored just 36 points at Virginia, and in their second game, they beat Georgia Tech by just two points.

Need to know: Yes, Arizona State has stumbled a bit in Pac-12 play, and that's concerning. But those non-conference wins against Kansas, Xavier and Kansas State — all away from home — still carry a lot of weight with the selection committee, which is why the Sun Devils are still on the No. 6 line this week. Rhode Island has an excellent record, non-con wins against Seton Hall and Providence and is on a 12-game winning streak. But there's a very real possibility that the A-10 could be a one-bid league this year, which means conference play offers more opportunities for bad losses than good wins. So far, so good for the Rams, who are 9-0 in league action.

Need to know: Barring a stunning series of bad losses, Saint Mary's pretty much punched its ticket with an impressive road win at Gonzaga. The Gaels are an at-large caliber team, which is obvious watching them, but their resume lacked the heft necessary. Winning a road game at Gonzaga is the type of 'W' they needed. Gonzaga might not have a top-five resume, but with non-con wins against Ohio State, Creighton, Texas and Washington, the Zags are still in fine shape.

Need to know: Honestly, this is probably too low for all four of these teams, but resumes get all kinds of jumbled in the 6-7-8 range. Florida State literally only played two non-con games against RPI top 100 teams; the Seminoles beat Florida and lost to Oklahoma State. TCU is just 3-6 after starting 12-0, and the Horned Frogs are 2-2 without point guard Jaylen Fisher, who's out for the year with a knee injury. All five of Louisville's losses were to at-large locks, but the Cardinals only have one win against a likely at-large team (Florida State), though Virginia Tech and Notre Dame are on the bubble.

Need to know: Kansas State is on a nice run right now. After a one-point loss at Kansas, the Wildcats have won four in a row, against Oklahoma, TCU, Baylor and Georgia. The Big 12 is relentless, though, and K-State's next four games are brutal: vs. Kansas, at West Virginia, at Texas and vs. Texas Tech. Alabama is playing very well lately, too. Coach Avery Johnson's team has won five of its past six games and picked up much-needed wins against Oklahoma, Auburn and South Carolina.

Need to know: USC is on a six-game winning streak, which is nice, but the next three games are much more important than the past six: at UCLA, at Arizona State and at Arizona. Houston picked up a huge win, beating Wichita State by 14 — after losing to the Shockers by 18 in the first meeting — and has a big road opportunity on Wednesday at Cincinnati.

Need to know: N.C. State has an odd resume, as always. On one hand, the Wolfpack played seven teams ranked 250 or worse in the RPI during the non-con portion of the schedule, and they have losses to UNC Greensboro and Northern Iowa. On the other hand, they just won at UNC, and also have wins against Arizona, Duke and Clemson. Yep. Western Kentucky is here because the Hilltoppers beat Purdue and SMU on a neutral court. South Carolina's here because the Gamecocks knocked off Kentucky at home and won at Florida. The margin between the last couple teams in the field and the first couple teams out is razor thin. As always.